06. of 08. The Saga of Hrolf Kraki also contains an alternate, Viking version of the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf tale. Saga is usually a narrative, either in poems or prose, dealing with historical, legendary and mythical subjects, written in Old Norse, during the 13th-14th century. The Hero Beowulf. An intriguing clue can be found in a series of stories collectively called the legendary sagas. Teutonic Myth and Legend. Third, legendary elements in Beowulf are discussed in relation to their appearances in other texts. ... and could he be connected to the myth? What is an important characteristic of a hero according to the Anglo Saxons? Ken Gillespie / Getty Images. Other figures in Hrolf's Saga also appear in Beowulf, attesting to the extent of the common legendary tradition. This Saga is the history of the Earls of Orkney, and is compiled from a number of different sources. And, of course, the peoples mentioned in the poem – the Danes, Geats and Swedes – are very much real. Beowulf:. These relationships agree with the saga, where King Halfdan is Helgi's father and Hroar is his brother. ... the Volsunga Saga, the Niebelunglied, Beowulf, and German heroic tales. The History Channel – Beowulf’s Background (Also called Clashes of the Gods – Beowulf) Video I questions: 1. The most famous saga-genre is the Íslendingasögur (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between Icelandic families. What is the monster’s name that is attacking Herot? This article identifies a new Old Norse analogue to Beowulf’s battle in the mere: an episode narrated in chapters 195–197 of the courtly thirteenth-century text Þiðreks saga af Bern. Beowulf is the first hero in English literature. "The Icelandic Sagas as a Subject for Undergraduate Study" by Dr. John P. Sexton, Bridgewater State University (June 2012 Issue / PDF) While medieval studies has dramatically expanded its scope and the texts taught as part of its subject over the past few decades, the study of Icelandic saga literature is still a fringe discipline, particularly in North American academe. Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia.. ... and introduces a number of both historical and legendary characters. The Icelandic sagas can be divided into three different categories: Kings’ Sagas, Family Sagas, and Heroic or Legendary Sagas. Halga (the Old English equivalent of Helgi) is noted in Beowulf as a son of Healfdeane and the brother of Hrothgar. Beowulf is primarily seeking glory, what the old English called "lof". He then presents Beowulf’s men with rewards and compensates the Geats with gold for the Geatish warrior that Grendel killed. They are fact-based accounts about the Norse world that were written between 1100 and 1400 AD. Second, historical elements in the poem are considered along with a mapping of its action. Beowulf himself does not appear in any other texts, but many of the other characters feature in semi-legendary histories and sagas about medieval Scandinavia, while some were also considered to be the ancestors of Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings. First, the fascinating tale of the text itself is discussed. This collection approaches Beowulf from four angles. The legendary sagas like Hrolf Kraki are so old and so embellished that they only contain the specter of real history, but recently archeologists have uncovered sites in Denmark that seem to match up with some episodes in the Hrolf Kraki story. After the gifts have been distributed, the king’s scop comes forward to sing the saga of Finn, which begins with the Danes losing a bloody battle to Finn, the king of the Frisians, a neighbor tribe to the Danes. Beowulf is an Old English poem in alliterative verse, resembling other poetry in Germanic languages. It describes and examines the resemblances between this episode and Beowulf’s fight against Grendel’s mother, as well as the notorious analogue of Grettir’s fight against a troll-woman. 2.